Sally Capp Says The City Of Melbourne Is Cutting Red Tape To Help Hospitality Venues

Lord Mayor of the City of Melbourne, Sally Capp, explained to the Hot Breakfast this morning how the council intends to help hospitality venues get back on their feet as the city reopens in the wake of the Coronavirus crisis.

LISTEN HERE:

“We’ve had some of our restaurants calling and saying ‘can we put more tables and chairs out on the pavement?’,” Cr Capp said.

“They think that when they can open up again people will feel more comfortable sitting outside, even in the Melbourne winter, Eddie, so we’re looking all of this things so that there’s plenty of room in the city for people to come and feel safe and confident.”

Cr Capp also said the city would cut some costly red tape for the service industry.

“The budget reflects that we’ve taken away almost 10% of our fees and charges, which represents a lot of different permits and things like that,” she said.

“We are working closely with all of our retailers and hospitality to say ‘ok, what would make a massive difference for you?’

“And in some cases where we needed permits, for example, for signs on pavements etc, and we had that because we had to monitor how many things were on our pavements with lots of people moving through the city.

“Given that our streets are quieter for the moment, can we assume that people can put those signs out and sing out to everybody in the city ‘we’re open, we’re open’ without having to go through a lot of rigmarole?

“They’re only little things, but they can make a big difference.”

Cr Capp also discussed bike lanes, the graffiti on the Royal Exhibition Building, the Queen Victoria Market and more.

LISTEN TO THE FULL CHAT HERE:

Make sure you get the Triple M app on iTunes or Google Play to help you through the long days and nights in isolation!